My Books

On March 1, 2006, Where's Stanley? was published by Harlequin NeXt. I just learned that Harlequin will be publishing the Kindle edition of the novel on May 15th. The book is now available for pre-order in Amazon's Kindle Store and also in Barnes & Noble's NookBook Store. The original novel sold for $5.50. The pre-order price is $4.19.

From the book's front cover:

Kids, keys, dog, job, now...

where's my husband?

Where's Stanley?

From the book's back cover:

If her husband turned up alive - she'd kill him!

Explaining to the seriously sexy cop why she hadn't noticed her husband missing for three days was both embarrassing and sobering. But the day Fiona Rowland lifted her head above the churning chaos of kins, carpools, and a million things to do, annoyance turned to fury...then to worry. Where was Stanley?

Having one of those wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee moments changes the way a woman looks at things: marriage, money, family, and friends. And when her best pal from high school appears (packing her own secrets) to lend support, it turns out even the past isn't quite what it seems. Scrambling to make sense of the drama unfolding, Fiona discovers there's an upside to having your whole world turned upside down. It's easier to grab the good stuff.

A common question people ask a writer is what made
them decide to sit down and start writing in the first place. For me, it was
grief.

While in high school, I wrote. I had taken journalism
and the teacher loved my writings. Two pieces of my work had been published in
two different school publications. I was also asked to join the staff for the
school paper, but declined. I just didn’t like writing the things wanted for a
paper. I liked creating stories to take you places. Inventing new worlds and
people to live in them. I stopped writing after getting out of school and
didn’t start again for several long years.

December 2008 had started like any other December
before it. I was out shopping for those perfect gifts for each member of my
family, and loving every minute of it. By my side was my
shopping partner. My mom. My best friend. This year was a little different, as
we made our rounds trying to get most of her shopping done earlier than her
normal pace of slow (she was known to be out shopping as late as Christmas
Eve), because she was set to have her final knee replacement surgery on the 19th.
That day was also the last day of work I had before school let out for
Christmas Break.

We had almost done everything she’d wanted to have
done, done. But there were still a few things to gather, like stocking stuffers
and things of that nature. She went in for her surgery and everything went great!
The last time she’d been in the hospital, for the first knee 6 months prior,
she’d contracted hospital-acquired pneumonia. Her doctor, wanting her to be healthy for
the rigorous knee therapy that follows two days after surgery, released her the
following day. The 20th.

Wanting to forgo giving you all the details, I received a phone call
early on the 21st. A phone call no one wants to get. My father,
who’d awoken to find his partner for the past 34 years gone, couldn’t make that
call. The responding police officer had to do it for him. Pneumonia had taken
her from us.

So started my decent into grief.

We were supposed to do some shopping before I took her to physical
therapy that day. We were supposed to do a lot of things during my break,
because she too had it off for recovery.

Instead, I had to help my dad organize a funeral.

During the year and a half that followed, I read over
230 books. All while working full time and tending to a family.

It was the start of summer vacation in 2010 when I’d
run out of books to read. I dove into spending time with my boys and vegging at
the pool daily. I thought it had been long enough, and maybe the grief wouldn’t
be so sharp. I was wrong. Without having someplace for my mind to wander, to
live in, I was a mess of tears.

It was then I’d woke up in the middle of the night, leaving
a dream that made my brain buzz. I tried to shake it off, leave it where I
found it. In my dreams. But it wanted to be let out. So I sat down in secret
and started writing.

At first when my family noticed my switch from books
to the computer and all my constant typing, they asked what I was doing. I
lied. I told them I was writing to my sister who lives in Texas. At first they
bought it, but as the typing went on, they were puzzled as to why I didn’t just
call her and talk to her. Again, I lied. But this time I said she’d asked me to
write down some things about our mom.

While they still were puzzled by all the clicking
going on at the keyboard, they left me alone.

While writing started out as therapy for a grieving
soul, it is now something I must do to keep all the exciting characters quiet.
I love it! I only wish it could have developed without such dark beginnings,
but nonetheless, my mother would be proud.

******

This is one story from Indie Chicks: 25
Women 25 Personal Stories available on Amazon and Barnes
& Noble

for the wonderfully low price of Free! To
read all of the stories, grab your copy today!

Also included are sneak peeks into 25
great novels!

My young adult paranormal romance, Cloud
Nine is one of the novels featured.

When I uploaded The Merry-Go-Round to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords back in January of 2010, my only wish was that a few people might get the chance to read the book that Harlequin purchased but never published. (The publication rights were returned to me when the book line that The Merry-Go-Round was slated for, NeXt, folded.) THEN I realized I could request the pub rights of eleven other novels that Harlequin had let languish.

As many of you know, I've been slowly updating, editing, and expanding these novels. I've either designed new covers or had them designed for me. I now have seven romance novels for sale at different markets (Apple iBooks, Sony Books, Kobo, Smashwords, B&N's Nook Store, and Amazon's Kindle Store).

Being in charge of every aspect of my new 'business' of selling my own books has been difficult and time-consuming (this deserves a brand new, made-up phrase...time-swallowing...LOL), but it's also been the most exciting, the most rewarding, and the most lucrative accomplishment of my writing career.

I would like to thank all the readers who have purchased, read, and left good reviews of my books. I also need to thank all the wonderful bloggers who have posted reviews, author interviews, and conducted contest giveaways. And I can't forget to thank my team of editors, copy-editors, beta readers, cover designers, and friends who have been so helpful in making this new venture a rousing success!

That's what I've been calling The Book of Lost Souls, the book that
started my path to publication. I’ve always loved to write. I’ve always loved
the way imagination and words blend on a page, the way they transport a reader
to faraway worlds, or right next door, where witches live. From the time I was
very young, books were an amazing world to me. There was no greater joy than
going to the library with my mother whose love of books knew no measure. When I
was very young, my mother read to me every night. As I grew older, we’d talk
about the books we were reading.

Even as a young child, I knew I wanted to
be a writer when I grew up. But, writing wasn’t what paid the bills. I got a
regular job and life went on, although I still dreamed of writing. My father
always told me to believe in myself and to never give up on what I firmly
believed in. A few years after his death, I took up writing again. My mother,
who was now ill and who had moved in with my husband and me, was happy to read
what I wrote, or to set the table in order to give me a few more minutes of
writing time.

And so I wrote and edited and revised. Just
before the book was ready to send to agents, my mother died. I set the book
aside. Writing was too painful, too full of memories.

But, the stories in my head wouldn’t let
up, and so after a few years I started writing again. This time, I wrote about
a teen witch named Ivy and her life in a small town, and I quickly fell in love
with the story and the eclectic group of characters. I think of it as Buffy meets Harry Potter. When I typed the last line, I actually felt a pang of
sorrow—I didn't want to say goodbye. Ivy and her story became The Book of Lost Souls, and after
polishing it up, I sent it off to agents. Plenty were interested and requested
the full manuscript. Unfortunately, most of them thought the book was too
light. Too cute. Too Disney. They
offered to read whatever else I had, as long as it was darker. Darker sells! Or
so they said.

So, after two revisions for two separate
agents that eventually didn't pan out (they said the book still had a
lighthearted feel to it that wouldn't appeal to publishing houses), I set The Book of Lost Souls aside and started
working on an outline for a much darker book.

It was around this time that the economy
began to collapse—hard—and I was given the pink slip on Friday the 13th,
right after I had completed a project that saved the company $400,000 annually.
Say goodbye to eighteen years of loyal service! Suddenly, writing a darker,
more dystopian book about the afterlife on top of losing my job seemed too much
to take. Still, I recalled my father’s wisdom of believing in myself even when
no one else did. I wrote and finished the next book, Don’t Fear the Reaper, in about seven months.

Still unemployed despite literally hundreds
of applications, I began to worry we would lose our home or deplete our savings
before I found a job. My career in IT was gone—off shored as they call it. I
also wondered if I’d ever see any of my books published. I was so close to
getting an agent so many times. Agents wrote back: You’re a strong writer. Or, The
Book of Lost Souls is a great story
and is well-written, but it’s not for me.

Nearly every morning, my inbox was filled
with rejection letters from jobs and agents, yet I tried to stay positive. I
kept repeating my father’s words to believe, to never give up. For every
rejection, I sent out twice as many applications, twice as many query letters. I
just tried harder.

I had been querying Reaper for about three months when I got an editorial letter from
one of New York’s
biggest literary agencies who'd had The
Book of Lost Souls for nearly a year. A year! But, the letter was so
enthusiastic about the story and my writing that I sat down and made every last
revision they suggested. I turned it in and waited. Months went by. In the end,
they rejected the story—not because they didn't love it, but because in the
year and change they’d had the manuscript, another client had submitted a
proposal for a story about a teen witch. Conflict of interest, they called it.

And that was that. My novel, the book
that was finished, was dumped for someone else’s book that hadn't yet been
written. Somewhat angry and depressed, I set The Book of Lost Souls aside. Again. By now, I was at the end of my
rope. I was still unemployed and out of unemployment benefits. The only work I
could find was the occasional short-term computer job, some tech writing gigs,
or dog-sitting. Nothing full-time, and certainly nothing we could count on.

If the near-miss with Super Agency wasn’t
enough, I found myself running into similar situations with Don't Fear the Reaper. Now, agents were
saying, Too dark! But, you're a talented
writer and we'd love to see other work. Or, You’re capable of
incredibly incisive scenes—the opener is still one of the best things I read
all year. And, my personal favorite, In this economy...

It was then that I learned about
self-published authors such as Karen McQuestion and Amanda Hocking. I decided
to go indie as well, starting with The
Book of Lost Souls. What did I have to lose? A lot if I didn’t figure out a way for our household to stop
hemorrhaging money. The only problem? I had no idea where to start. I sent an
email to Ms. McQuestion, in the hopes she could point me in the right
direction. She was so incredibly kind! Not only did she reply, she sent me a
wealth of information on self-publishing. Today, she shares all that
information on her blog. I’m incredibly grateful to her.

I got a cover I could afford with the
help of another indie, Sam Torode. Two editor friends went over my work.
Finally, I formatted the book and the rest is history. I uploaded The Book of Lost Souls in early March,
and it’s been getting consistently great reviews ever since. As for being too lighthearted?
I receive emails all the time from people who love that the book is funny, upbeat,
and clean.

Within my first five weeks of
self-publishing, I hit three best seller lists on Amazon. Me. An indie author without
a publicist or a big agency or publisher behind them. Just me, my computer, my
loving husband, and the devotion of two dogs at my feet.

I’ve been asked if there will be a sequel
to The Book of Lost Souls. The answer
is yes. Two more books, maybe a third. I just haven't thought that far out yet.

And the other, darker book? After some
revisions, Don't Fear the Reaper
debuted in late September 2011. On its first day, the book reached lucky #13 on
Amazon’s Hot New Releases, Children’s Fiction, Spine-Tingling Horror.

I’m only sorry that my parents aren’t
here to see this. I took my father’s advice and my mother’s faith and
reinvented myself. I still dog-sit and take on small computer jobs and tech
writing gigs to help keep us afloat financially. But one day, I hope that my
hard work will pay even more of the bills. Until then, I’m at peace with the
way things are.

I’d like to dedicate my section of this
anthology to readers everywhere—words alone cannot express how much I
appreciate you believing in me. You’re every bit as much a part of the magic as
Ivy herself.

So, thank you, Dear Reader. Sincerely.
Because, every author with a story to tell writes with you in mind.

I'd like to thank Sue from Cookie's Bookclub for helping me get the word out about my book, Nanny and the Professor. There were 164 entries! Wow! Congratulations to Sarah, May, and Michelle, who all won a copy of the book.

Today I'm introducing three author friends who write extra spicy romance novels. If you're faint of heart, don't read any further! *laughing* But if you love books that are sexy-sexy-boom-boom, then try a few books from these fabulous authors.

“I didn’t do anything!” another voice yelled before I could
even get up to see what was going on.

I sighed and struggled to get off the couch where I had just
started writing a scene. Four months pregnant with our sixth child and the
varicose veins were already causing problems for me. I wondered where my
husband was hiding that he couldn’t handle this.

Fortunately, the yelling quieted down. Instead of checking
on them, I made an Executive Decision. I snuck into my closet, grabbed some
Hershey’s chocolate from my stash, and slipped into the bathroom where I ate it
with the lights turned off. Nobody would find me there.

Flicking on my flashlight, I took out the notepad and pen I
had stashed in the magazine rack and wrote down some thoughts on the scene I had
been writing.

The quiet lasted 3.5 minutes. Then my time in the bathroom
was up. I crept back out to the living room where I settled a new argument,
secretly wishing I could go back to the bathroom.

Now, you may ask…Married with how many kids? And you write
books? WHY? HOW? Let me tell you.

From the time I was a little girl, I have had two dreams.
One: To have a large family. Two: To be an author. There was a time not long
ago when it seemed neither would come true.

Maybe it was being an only child that allowed my imagination
to run wild and my mind to create stories; it definitely made me wish for a big
family of my own. It’s lonely to grow up without a sibling.

In school, writing was my passion. I wrote constantly. I’d
slip my story under a notebook in class and when I was supposed to be taking
notes, I’d really be writing my story. At night when I was supposed to be
asleep, I’d hide under the covers in bed with a flashlight, pen, and paper.

Time went on, and although I had many stories written, I was
too chicken to do anything with them. So, they sat. When I fell in love and
started a family, writing got pushed to the side. Sure, I still loved it, but I
never had time. Deep down, I was mad at myself for not at least trying to do
something with them. But, at the time, I felt I couldn’t. Family came first.

My dream of having a large family wasn’t as easy as I
thought it would be, but it had begun to come true. We had two beautiful little
girls and wanted more. Unfortunately, I suffered through many miscarriages over
the years. After having a number of tests done, I was diagnosed with a blood
disorder so complicated that I have no idea what it actually is except that it
can cause miscarriages. Getting pregnant had never been an issue; staying
pregnant was. When I didn’t get and stay pregnant for over a year, the
depression got worse.

Losing a baby is a devastating thing to go through; losing
six is downright depressing. There’s no amount of crying, begging, negotiating,
or praying that brings them back. Believe me, I tried it all. It didn’t matter
how many people told me it wasn’t my fault–I blamed myself anyway. Finding out
that it was due to a blood disorder made my guilt that much worse. It was my
fault. My body’s fault anyway. Then I started asking myself: Why do some of my
babies live and others don’t? What did I do different? I had children before I
started medication for the disorder, and I’ve had miscarriages since getting on
the medication. None of it makes sense and it’s still something I struggle to
understand. I was in such a deep depression; it was like my creative button had
been turned off. I had no desire to write.

When we finally “gave up” and decided that we’d be a family
of six, we found out I was pregnant again with our fifth daughter.

This pregnancy was much harder on my body than the others. I
found myself on the couch most of the day with my legs up. It was around this
time that some online friends found out that I loved to write and encouraged me
to share my stories. I did so nervously and they loved them! I reached deep
down and found the courage to start submitting queries to agents. Each time my
hopes were smashed to pieces.

My husband started talking about eBooks and self-publishing.
I wasn’t too sure about going that route. I wanted to see my books in print, so
I could hold them in front of my face. I wanted to smell my book. But, as time
went on, eReaders became more popular and I figured…why not?

So, here I am, with five children, trying to find the time
to write, while juggling mom-duty, wife-duty, household chores, errands, and
more. During the earlier part of this year, you could find me up until the wee
hours of the morning writing. You see, that is the only time it’s quiet enough
to get anything done. Three a.m. is
the time when all little girls are sleeping, the husband is snoring away, and
my mind is clear. I can throw myself into a character’s psyche and let my
imagination flow. Everything was going perfectly. I was getting a lot of
writing done and then we got a surprise. Baby #6 was on the way.

As happy as we were, this put a serious damper on staying up
until three a.m. I just couldn’t do
it. My one-year-old is at the age where she needs to be followed around and
supervised constantly. If I don’t, I find my computer monitor has become a
coloring book.

My four-year-old is in between the “play with me” stage and
the “playing alone” stage. The older three are in school, which provides a
break for me, but since my four year old adores her older sisters, it makes it
hard. She’s constantly whining for them to come home.

It’s hard enough juggling the four younger ones, but throw
in a hormonal teenager and chaos ensues. Dealing with her has made me positive
that my mother cursed me for acting out as a teenager. Not a week goes by that
I don’t find myself in tears over something she does or says. Like the time
recently when I told her I was pregnant again, she made nasty comments accusing
me of ruining her life. Or the time I had to punish her for kicking her sister,
and she informed us that she could run away and be adopted by her friend’s
parents.

I’m sure you find yourself wanting to ask how I get a minute
to myself. Or how do I deal with no time alone? Or what if I get an idea during
the day?

Remember that stash of chocolate in the closet? I simply get
some, slip into the bathroom, and take a few minutes. Sometimes I just think.
Sometimes I jot down a few ideas on that hidden notepad.

As crazy and chaotic my life is, I wouldn’t change a thing.
And it sure gives me plenty of things to write about.

So, when life hands you lemons…toss them out, grab your
stash of chocolate, your writing materials, and head for the bathroom. You may
just end up writing a book.

This is one story
from Indie Chicks: 25 Women 25 Personal Stories available on Amazon
and Barnes
& Noble. To read all of the stories, buy your copy today.

My niece is visiting me for Spring Break. I haven't seen much of her and her boyfriend; they've been busy at the beach, at the boardwalk, at the outlet shops, at the mini-golf course...you get the idea. But being with these young adults started me thinking about the great YA books I've read, and I decided to feature three today.

How does an emo teen with an ex-druggie mum, a
non-existent father and a penchant for fast cars fit into a traditional
Aussie church? Why has the new boy, Mr Perfect Pastor's Kid, caused her
to question every belief she holds dear? And why the sudden interest in
Leviticus?

Maisy May is a novella - a short novel - for teens and adults. It is the first in a series of three about Maisy.

Contains occasional swearing, and sexual and religious themes.

Who is Faustine? When Faustine Spencer was five years old, she
discovered a secret that changed her life forever. At twelve, her
parents sent her to Bonfire Academy where she
received learned to control her special powers.

Now, all she wants is to be a
typical teenager. When drop-dead gorgeous Ryker finally notices her, she couldn't be happier.

Then her father disappears, and she is named his successor. With her life in danger, Faustine must learn to follow one of
Bonfire Academy's most important rules: Trust no one.

Girl meets boy, falls in love, becomes engaged, and walks down the
aisle. Oh, if only life were that simple. When an Immortal girl meets a
Mortal boy, life is a little more complicated.

In My Link In Time, Charity
accepts Lincoln's marriage proposal, certain they can handle
anything that might come their way. Link’s newly acquired lust for blood
becomes the first problem to tackle...saying “I do” comes next.

Is
a no fuss wedding in Las Vegas too much to ask? It seems so when a
Witch from their past is not what she seems, mortal friends from
Telluride become thorns in their sides, and staying alive is harder than
Charity has ever imagined it would be. What is an Immortal girl to do?

Movingto the Middle East

by Julia Crane

Separation was normal in my marriage. My husband was in the military, and
usually gone six months a year. We had adapted quite well to the schedule. Of
course, we had the normal period of adjustment when he would return, but that
was part of the lifestyle. We were looking forward to his retirement, and being
able to spend more time together as a family. That didn’t work out quite as we
expected. My husband was offered a job in Afghanistan that would set us up to
really retire. The kicker? It would last a year. We thought the
sacrifice would be worth it, so off he went. One year became a year and a half.

While he was gone I took care of our small business, running a gym. I loved
it. It was very time-consuming, but it was also very rewarding. It started to
wear on me only when my pre-teen children complained that I was always at the
gym, and never had time for them. Finally, I told my husband that it was time
for him to come home.
He put in his notice and started a stateside job. Though the new job still
required him to be gone for six months of the year, the absences were in
manageable blocks of two weeks. When he was home, he would take care of the gym
and I would have time off. It was perfect.

Then he got a call from a friend, with a job offer that was just too good to
turn down…in Dubai.
We discussed it, and decided he should take the job, even though we had a new
one-year-old.

Not long after my husband left for Dubai,
I was at the breaking point. I felt trapped with the business, our teens, and a
one-year-old always needing my attention. I had no personal space, and I’m a
person that requires time alone, or else I get cranky.

As luck would have it, the new job offered to bring family members over to
live in Dubai.
My first thought about moving to the Middle East?
“Yeah, right.” However, I researched Dubai
and was surprised at what I found. The country seemed very modern, and the
schools sounded good.

So I told my husband, “Ok, we’re coming.” While I was both nervous and excited,
I was ready for a change, and moving to the Middle East
sounded like just the adventure I needed.

When we got off the plane in October, the hot air hit my face and it felt
like I had walked into a sauna. I thought, “Uh oh, what have I agreed to?” Yes,
the heat is hard to handle, but you learn to live your life around it. We do
most things early in the morning or after the sun sets. It is very much a
nighttime culture. The city is beautiful and the Arabian
Sea is breathtaking. I have grown comfortable living here, and
easily call it my home. Though I can now see myself here for a few years, there
are of course many things that I miss about America, and most of them involve
food. Some things are just impossible to find: I’ve searched high and low for a
Butterfinger, with no luck.

After a couple of months of enjoying my newfound free time, I eventually
started to twiddle my thumbs. I was used to being busy, and with all the free
time I needed to find something to fill the void. I saw an article that went
into detail about how e-books had flung open many doors for writers. I thought
that was interesting, and I mentioned it to my husband and he said he had also
seen many articles saying much the same thing. I jokingly said that I was going
to write a novel. My husband, who believes I can do anything, thought it was a
great idea. I have always enjoyed writing even though I had not written much
since having children. As a teen, I used to mail short stories to magazines and
such, and like most avid readers, I always dreamed of someday writing a novel.
Now I had my chance.

That same night I sat down to write, and the story quickly formed in my
mind. I knew I wanted to write a young adult novel that would involve my Irish
roots. The story just seemed to form itself: I would get ideas at random times
and rush to write them down. It was frustrating at times, because I need
relative quiet to focus. As you can imagine, with two teens and a two-year-old,
finding quiet time is not easy. I wrote most of “Coexist” late at night when
everyone was asleep. It took approximately three months to write the first
draft, while the revision and editing process lasted longer than the initial
writing.

A great part of the writing process for me has been interacting with other
writers. I have met some amazing people from online writing groups and chat
rooms. I learned a great deal in a short amount of time. I don’t think this
undertaking would have been nearly as fun without the community I have found.
Moving halfway across the world has allowed me to have both more time with
family, and the ability to pursue a dream I’ve had since a child.

***

This is one story from Indie Chicks: 25 Women 25
Personal Stories available on Amazon
and Barnes
& Noble. To read all of the stories, buy your copy today.